Greek PM: Climate Change a Chance to Expand Tourism Season

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Bloomberg TV. Photo source: Press Office of Prime Minister

Climate change is an opportunity for Greece to expand its tourism season, said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in an interview to Bloomberg Television over the weekend.

“People still enjoy the hot Mediterranean and they do want to come to the Mediterranean, and to Greece in particular, during the summer because they like to spend time at the beach. If anything, I would argue that climate change is an opportunity for us to expand our tourism season,” said Mitsotakis in response to whether the changing weather and higher risk of fire would keep travelers away from Greece in the future.

Poros, Greece. Photo source: Visit Greece.

The Greek PM was quick to point out that Greece “will always have enough people interested to come” in July and August, and added that travelers are now visiting the country in March and April or October and November. “More people [are] interested in coming to visit our cities year round,” he said.

Referring to the criticism he received for the dozens of wildfires that broke out over the summer, Mitsotakis said the climate crisis was “here for good”.

“We’ve always had wildfires in the Mediterranean, but we had particularly intense wildfires this year and we also had unprecedented floods. It’s very clear that we need to focus more on short-term adaptation. This is, of course, a case I’m also making to my European colleagues,” he said.

Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Photo source: Press Office of Prime Minister

Mitsotakis went on to add that expanding the tourism season has been a top priority. Referring to the changing travel trends, he said given the choice, people will prefer to take their holidays off season when there are fewer crowds and the weather is milder.

“For us, it’s a great opportunity to expand our tourism season and also to open new destinations on the mainland for people to explore,” he said, adding that it will be a while before “Scandinavian beaches or Danish or Swedish beaches compete with Greek beaches. I don’t see this happening anytime soon”, he said.